The problem I have is the rate at which spending increased from 2007 to 2011. It is not entirely on Obama's shoulders as President, but as a senator he certainly had a hand in it. The legislators who voted and led the charge on spending for the past four years have shown us an unprecendented increase in debt accumulation and borrowing. I'm not a "doom and gloom" type and try to avoid hyperbole, but we simply can't afford to keep putting off the inevitable. I have no problem with gradual cuts over time for some programs. I do, however, have a problem with the idea that there aren't plenty of ways in which the government COULD cut spending RIGHT NOW, in a significant manner, without hitting the economy too badly. The waste, red tape, redundancy, fraud, foreign aid payments, UN budget, excessive war spending, etc...could all be rachetted down without causing significant job loss. A new bill allowing price negotiations with approved pharmacies in Canada, Mexico, and overseas could save a massive amount of money for medicaid/medicare, means-testing for social security, medicaid, and medicare could save a lot of money every year, work-to-play programs for welfare would eliminate jobs but would also provide marketable skills for welfare recipients and cut municipal costs (and federal aid needs) simultaneously.
I read an article over the weekend that even if we increase the debt ceiling will still risk a lowered credit rating because we're borrowing way too much of what we spend. How long can we play chicken with our credit rating overall before that, too, causes our economy to suffer? We're up against a wall here, and bad policy on both sides got us here. We're going to have to take our medicine and suffer through, regardless of which scenario plays out. There's no possible action we could take right now that will prevent us from hitting another low spot, IMO, so why don't we take the road that will lead us to the best long-term outcome?
